NON-PROFIT REPORT: The American Red Cross, Finger Lakes NY Region

The American Red Cross, Finger Lakes NY Region, is part a national organization that provides relief for disaster victims and helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. The regional organization includes six local chapters serving nine counties: Chemung, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates. Besides Rochester, it has offices in Canandaigua, Dansville, Geneseo, Newark, Penn Yan and Seneca Falls.

The first Red Cross chapter was founded in Dansville in 1881 by Clara Barton, who also founded the second chapter in Rochester six weeks later with the help of Susan B. Anthony. The national organization is based in Washington, D.C., and now has annual revenue exceeding $3 billion.

The Red Cross does community disaster preparedness training and assists with recovery and relief after disasters. In fiscal 2011, it responded to nearly 70,000 disasters across the country, including 141 that were too large for the response of a single chapter. It opened nearly 500 shelters and provided more than 4 million meals and snacks.

Disaster response efforts of the Finger Lakes regional organization and its chapters can be as small in scale as providing food and lodging for the victims of a house fire. But it also participates in much larger efforts; after Hurricane Sandy in October, for example, it deployed more than 70 volunteers for assignments in the New York City area.

Other services:

Youth programs to build leadership skills through service learning.

A heating fund to assist families struggling to pay utility bills.

Service to the armed forces-support, guidance and emergency messaging for deployed military personnel, veterans and their families.

Health and safety training for individuals and businesses in life-saving skills such as CPR and first aid.

Each chapter also has programs unique to its location. In addition, American Red Cross Blood Services, New York-Penn Region, operates separately in New York and parts of Pennsylvania to provide blood banking services. It conducts blood drives throughout this region and has blood donation centers in Rochester, Henrietta, Greece and Perinton.

The Red Cross region has the equivalent of 56 full-time employees, and John Buttrill is regional CEO. The headquarters is at 50 Prince St., and its Internet presence is part of the national website at www.redcross.org.

* Only officers of the Greater Rochester Chapter's board are listed because of space limitations; the board has 17 additional members. The five other chapters in the region also have boards.

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